Kathy Griffin Ended Anderson Cooper Friendship Over Bloody Trump Head

Speaking to The Cut for her cover story this month, Kathy Griffin revealed that she and her longtime pal Anderson Cooper are, sadly, no longer friends. Why? To put it bluntly: Donald Trump got in between them. Sorta.

After Griffin was ostracized back in June for holding a bloodied mask resembling Trump in a comedic photo shoot, Cooper slammed the photo on CNN, saying, "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."

According to Griffin, when her former New Year's Eve co-host eventually reached out to her following the controversy, it was too little, too late—and she told him their friendship was over:

In the following days, Griffin says four of Cooper’s CNN colleagues reached out repeatedly to Griffin to check on her and offer private support (I independently confirmed this). But Cooper didn’t contact Griffin until August 10, CNN confirmed to me...

The fact that Cooper was telling people publicly they were friends, while not checking in with her, hurt Griffin deeply. When he finally reached out to her in a series of text messages, she told him their friendship was over.

Meanwhile, a "source close to Cooper" told the magazine that the news anchor was “shocked and upset by the photo, and while he was not ready to talk to her personally about it, he still considered her to be a friend, and was publicly supportive when asked about the controversy.”

When Cooper appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in July, he even shared, "Yeah, we're still friends...I didn’t think what she said was appropriate, but I wish her the best and I hope she bounces back."